There are good people in the world. And they wear purple.

Last week was one of the best weeks of the year to be working in downtown Kansas City.  The Big 12 tournament brought some much needed life to downtown, and it was exciting to be in the middle of it all.  Two years ago, the tournament was here, and Aaron and I were desperately searching for reasonably priced tickets to K-State's Friday night game.  We gave up after finding tickets for no less than $100 a piece, and watched the game from our living room, 10 miles from the action.  This time around, we did not want to be left out, so when I got an e-mail the week before the tournament giving us a chance to purchase tickets, we jumped at the opportunity.  They were in the nose-bleed section of the arena, but we didn't care -- we would finally get to see our top 10 team play first-hand for the first time this season.

We sold the tickets for the first 3 sessions at ridiculously low prices, then joined the throngs of purple-clad fans at the Sprint Center for K-State's first game on Thursday night.  We couldn't have asked for a better game.  K-State thumped Oklahoma State and we had a blast cheering them on.  It was especially exciting knowing we had tickets for the following night, too.  We left the arena before the next game began, accidentally exiting through the smoker's area just outside a side door.  I hadn't been around that much smoke since the old days, back when smoking was allowed in bars and restaurants.  I tried not to cough as we rushed through the thick blanket of smoke. 

As we walked, Aaron realized he was missing something:  our tickets for both Friday AND Saturday's games!  He had put them in his pocket, just in case K-State had lost and we needed to sell them.  We turned and rushed back to the smoking area for another chance at lung cancer.  There was no re-entry into the arena, so we were lucky we had discovered this side door where we could sneak back in.  We hurried back to our seats, and Aaron searched to no avail.  We hung our heads and made our way outside to the ticket booth.  I was suddenly hopeful when I realized that my name was in the system, so surely they could just reprint our tickets and we would be on our way!  Not so much.  The Big 12, it turns out, does not allow tickets to be reprinted. 

The next day, life didn't seem quite so bleak, and we decided to bite the bullet and scalp tickets to the game, for the right price.  Just as we were about to go shop for tickets, I checked my phone...and had an e-mail from the Sprint Center.  A guy had found our tickets in the men's restroom!  He had already given away the tickets for Friday's game, but would be willing to meet up with us to give us back the tickets to the championship.  We were in disbelief.  I knew this good Samaritan had to be a K-Stater. 

Sure enough, Aaron met up with him, and he had graduated from K-State a couple years before us.  He gave us the tickets, and wouldn't accept any money.  Our faith in humanity was restored.

We went on our way, relieved to have our tickets back.  We managed to go to the game that night (which is another story in itself), and were relieved that the Wildcats won so we could use our returned championship tickets.

Saturday rolled around, and we met up with some friends at the Power & Light District prior to the game.  It was packed with purple and blue, and truly an awesome experience to have both Kansas teams in the championship.  Aaron spotted the guy that had found our tickets and said hello.  He had just purchased tickets so he could go to the game.  He could have either used our tickets or sold them for more then $100/ticket, but instead he gave them back to us, and purchased a ticket of his own.  That is why K-State has the best fans in all of college sports.

The sea of purple and blue before the chapmionship game

We get to go to the game!!

We all know now that the outcome of the game was not so great, but it was still fun to be there.